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Attention Function Structure of Older and Younger Adult Drivers
Get PDFGroups of younger (n=49, M age = 21.7 years) and older (n=52, M age = 73.0 years) adults performed computer-based cognitive tests and simulated driving. Results from the cognitive tests were submitted to Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and 6 components were extracted that explained more than 77% of the variance. The components were labeled speed, divided, sustained, executive, selective/inhibition, and visual search in descending order of amount of variance explained. The component scores were used to predict simulated driving performance. Hierarchical step-wise regressions were computed with driving performance as the criterion, and age group (forced) and the component scores (step-wise) as predictors. Results showed that the speed and divided components were more likely to explain additional driving performance variance beyond age group than the other components
The Design and Assessment of Attention-Getting Rear Brake Light Signals
Get PDFThis paper summarizes work intended to further characterize and develop rear brake light signals likely to improve driver reaction to hard-braking lead-vehicle events, emphasizing unique and novel approaches not previously studied. The work developed optimized signal lighting configurations, including specifications for LED signal approaches (flash frequencies, brightness levels, patterns), and performed field evaluations to assess eye-drawing capability of candidate signals for drivers who were looking away from the forward view. Results indicate that newer rear signaling designs can be very effective at drawing drivers’ eyes back to the forward roadway, and that flashing and brightness are two important signal properties moderating effectiveness (attention-getting). Remarkable performance gains can be achieved via use of LED signal approaches which both flash and increase signal intensity or lamp brightness
Validity of an On-Road Driver Performance Assessment Within an Initial Driver Training Context
Get PDFBased on a competence-oriented view of driving a driver performance assessment (DPA) has been developed to inform learner drivers about their progress in acquiring driving proficiency. An initial validation study was carried out to evaluate the adequacy of inferences based on DPA-scores assigned by driving instructors. The results of two pilots are presented. Implications for driving performance assessment within driver training programs are discussed
Attention Maintenance in Novice Drivers: Assessment and Training
Get PDFAll programs assessing attention maintenance inside the vehicle have required eye trackers and either a driving simulator or a specially equipped field vehicle. Ideally, one would like a way to assess attention maintenance that could be implemented on a desktop PC. Additionally, one would like to have a program that could be used to train novice drivers to maintain their attention more safely on the forward roadway. An experiment was run (a) to determine whether a program FOCAL (Focused Concentration and Attention Learning) using a desktop PC could differentiate between the attention maintenance skills of novice and experienced drivers and (b) to determine whether a program that improved the hazard anticipation skills of novice drivers might also improve their attention maintenance skills. FOCAL was able to differentiate between the attention maintenance skills of novice and experienced drivers. However, hazard anticipation training did not improve the attention maintenance skills of the novice drivers
The Impact of Macular Disease on Pedestrian Detection: A Driving Simulator Evaluation
Get PDFWe describe the design of a driving simulator study to determine the effect of central visual field loss (due to macular disease) on pedestrian detection when driving. Pilot data suggest that a scotoma (blind area) in the central visual field can impair driving by increasing response time to hazardous circumstances
Steering Wheel Behavior Based Estimation of Fatigue
Get PDFThis paper examined a steering behavior based fatigue monitoring system. The advantages of using steering behavior for detecting fatigue are that these systems measure continuously, cheaply, non-intrusively, and robustly even under extremely demanding environmental conditions. The expected fatigue induced changes in steering behavior are a pattern of slow drifting and fast corrective counter steering. Using advanced signal processing procedures for feature extraction, we computed 3 feature set in the time, frequency and state space domain (a total number of 1251 features) to capture fatigue impaired steering patterns. Each feature set was separately fed into 5 machine learning methods (e.g. Support Vector Machine, K-Nearest Neighbor). The outputs of each single classifier were combined to an ensemble classification value. Finally we combined the ensemble values of 3 feature subsets to a of meta-ensemble classification value. To validate the steering behavior analysis, driving samples are taken from a driving simulator during a sleep deprivation study (N=12). We yielded a recognition rate of 86.1% in classifying slight from strong fatigue
The Blind Date: The Effects of Passenger Conversation and Gender on Looked-but-Failed-to-See (LBFTS) Errors
Get PDFThis study examined situations where drivers looked but failed to see hazards (LBFTS), and whether passenger conversation and gender affected hazard detection rates. To reliably produce LBFTS errors, 40 young drivers (M = 20.3) encountered motorcycles and pedestrians while making left turns in the University of Calgary Driving Simulator (UCDS). Prior to turn initiation the UCDS screens flickered using an extension of change blindness methods. In addition, drivers either drove alone or conversed with an attractive confederate passenger. Measures of LBFTS errors, hazard detection and social factors were analyzed. Higher rates of LBFTS errors and hazard detection occurred while conversing than while driving alone. A discriminant function analysis (DFA) using conversation and gender as predictors accurately classified LBFTS errors. Higher passenger attraction and higher extroversion were related to missing more critical events. The basis of LBFTS errors in divided and selective attention and classification implications are discussed
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)
Get PDFThe talk will present findings and implications from the New York Times bestselling book “Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us),” including the dynamics of traffic flow, the social interactions of drivers, the perceptual illusions and cognitive biases to which humans behind the wheel are prone, the relationship between the built environment and our behavior, among other aspects of this complex, yet overlooked, everyday activity. There will be a particular focus on the role of science in effecting behavioral change. Tom Vanderbilt writes on design, technology, science, and culture, among other subjects, for many publications, including Wired, Slate, The London Review of Books, Gourmet, The Wall Street Journal, Men’s Vogue, Artforum, The Wilson Quarterly, Travel and Leisure, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine,Cabinet, Metropolis, and Popular Science. He is contributing editor to the design magazines I.D. and Print, and contributing writer of the popular blog Design Observer. His most recent book is the New York Times bestseller Traffic:Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), published by Alfred A. Knopf. He is the author of two previous books: Survival City: Adventures Among the Ruins of Atomic America (Princeton Architectural Press, 2002), an offbeat architectural travelogue of the nation’s secret Cold War past; and The Sneaker Book (The New Press, 1998), a cultural history of the athletic shoe
Driving Assessment and Subsequent Driving Outcome: A Prospective Study of Safe and Unsafe Healthy Driver Groups
Get PDFOlder drivers are an increasingly numerous section of the population who are often targeted for driving assessment. Little is known as to whether onroad driving assessments result in an older driver population who have fewer negative driving events. Fifty-eight healthy older drivers (mean age 77, range 71- 84, no diagnosis of neurological disorder), completed a non-enforced on-road driving assessment and detailed sensory-motor and cognitive testing. Selfreported and official data regarding crashes and traffic offences were collected for both the five years prior to the on-road assessment, and the 12 months following in order to determine whether those who received a Fail score on the on-road assessment had higher rates of negative driving events than those who passed (43 passed, 15 failed). No increase in adverse outcomes was found either retrospectively or prospectively for those who failed the on-road assessment. Similarly there were no significant differences in cognitive, sensory-motor, and demographic variables between those who passed and failed. Healthy older drivers who failed the on-road assessment did not show evidence of poorer driving behaviour even at the level of descriptive statistics
Predicting Older Drivers' Difficulties Using the Roadwise Review
No full textThere has been a substantial growth in research attempting to predict accidents and performance in older drivers. The Roadwise Review and the substantively identical Driver Health Inventory have been reported to provide a valid and cost-effective means of assessing crash risk in older communitydwelling adults. We administered the DHI to a community-dwelling sample of older (45 - 85 years) drivers. We also asked them to report on the difficulties they experienced while driving and on the frequency and type of crashes and moving violations the experienced in the previous two years. Results indicated on several of the tests there are substantial floor or ceiling effects, as well as barriers to usability and acceptance. Low inter-test correlations are consistent with the notion that different capacities are being indexed with the DHI. However, generally there were only low correlations between DHI performance and self-reported difficulties in driving, accidents or moving violations. While the DHI and Roadwise Review may well be valuable in providing older drivers with information on skills related to driving performance, in its current form it does not appear to be a useful tool in licensure or the prediction of driver risk